Please Send Ice Cream.

Friends and family have been inquiring as to our desired American products with the holiday season upon us. Unfortunately, the items on our wish list are somewhat difficult to ship:

• Ice Cream: The few varieties available here are frothy/creamy and have little or no added yummies. Kevin cries every night around 10pm in front of the freezer.
• Crock Pot: Slow cooking is unheard of here. Of course, we'd need a 220 volt adapted one.
• Cream Soups: All of my recipes call for these, but they do not exist. Sigh.
• Fritos, Fig Newtons, Lemonades: Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.
• Grocery Carts: The carts here turn on all four wheels and you need the skills of a Nascar driver to turn into the next aisle. (Grocery Bags also desired, but due to recycling mandate - see below - do not exist).
• Gas: Yes, I know you think it is expensive there... it is twice as expensive here. We spend the equivalent of $100+ every time we fill up a full tank in a regular size car.
• Wooden Walls & Closets: Houses are made of poured cement walls. Sturdy but painful and impossible to decorate (many drill bits are now dust, nails die in contorted positions). Closets do not exist - you must purchase (or get from the company, as we do) large pieces of furniture - like wardrobes - to put everything in. Clothes, towels, cleaning supplies. Everything.
• Two Car Garage with House Entry: I will have to back the car out to put the children in. And we can't put a tool kit in there with the car.
• Directions... as in North/East/South/West: They literally do not use these words here. Not in conversation or on the Autobahn. They say, instead "up by Bamburg" or "near Miesenbach." And the signs on the Autobahn are the same. An entrance/exit ramp has only city names on it so unless you know every town in Germany, you do not know whether you are getting on going north or south. Takes some getting used to. Or a GPS system.

What can we send? It's easiest to notice what we are lacking but there is much that is also good. If we could we would export to you:

• Lindt Chocolates: I'm convinced they come directly from heaven.
• Recycling System: You must recycle, as true garbage gets picked up only twice a month and the can is very small. This is enforced and done quite well.
• Autobahn Speeds: There are speed zones, and construction, but in between them you can go very, very fast.
• Checkless Banking: Checks are not available here. You bring the bill to the bank (and of course can go online), they stamp it, it's done.

But the cars are European designed (just don't buy a European minivan - not as advanced as American and sliding doors are unheard of) and quite nice. So we bought a car. An Opel Vectra. This is a GM brand that left the states in 1975 but does well in Europe. It has more features than we need but was a good price, used, so we sacrificed our humility and drove it home. Black. This is noteworthy only because 92.6 percent of the cars on the road in Germany are silver. This is absolutely true. You can NOT get a white car at all and red/maroon is a very rare sight indeed. We did get a wagon however, which half of the population drives - though mostly in silver. My fav features are auto open/close hatch in the back, heated leather seats, and dual climate control.

Kid Updates: Mary has finally started crawling on her knees. And today she pulled herself up a few times. She was extremely proud of herself, excited, and twice as cute. Eli has a goose egg on his forehead that may get me arrested but he did it all by himself on our hard tile floors. Yesterday he says to me "Mom, when are you ever going to do laundry? My laundry basket is full." I live to serve.